Okay, so I know nothing about this subject. I believe some geocachers use Palm Pilots to store geocaches information pages. Currently, I print out the pages of the geocaches I want to look from and lug them around with me. I don't own a palm pilot but would consider getting one if it would be useful for this sport. If you have one, what type is it and how do you use of geocaching._________________If I'm not Crazy, am I Sane???

Me too, me too. My book is getting heavy. I leave it in the car, and I don't like to take the lap out and leave it in the car. Now a palm piolet for x-mas. _________________Save the earth.
It's the only planet with chocolate.

There is plenty of software available for Palm and Handspring PDAs that will let you carry the cache descriptions in those. Here is a link to one of the many docs you can find on the web with Google that describe the general process...

There is a good bit of advice in there about buying a cheap, perhaps used PDA for this purpose. I second that advice, having left my PDA at Lake Calhoun a couple months ago. I replaced it with a very good condition Handspring Visor Deluxe which I got off of eBay for $41 including shipping. These are perfectly good PalmOS PDAs that go for right around the $50 mark on eBay, give or take.

Another piece of advice. There are two kinds of people in this world: organized and the rest of us. If you are an organized person, you will find that a PDA is a valuable assistant. If you are an unorganized person, you will use the PDA to organize yourself for awhile, then go back to your disorganized ways. I wouldn't spend a pile of dough on the latest whiz bang PDA until you can honestly say which kind of person you are or are likely to become. That advice comes from the school of hard knocks .

Many people selling PDAs for cheap on eBay are the disorganized people who bought PDAs and then discovered they never used them. Shop carefully and you will get one that is barely used for dirt cheap.

It just so happens I have a Palm M125 for sale. I used to use it for Geocaching but I upgraded to a Palm Tungsteen with a color screen. It is a godsend to use for geocaching, especially if you are a Premium member.

I am selling the Palm M125. I was always gonna put it for sale on Ebay but never got around to it. It works perfectly and great for the person who wants one just for geocaching or other basic fucntions such as address book and notepad. Selling cheap at $50. That price includes the cradle, a flipcover and the unit with fresh batteries. I'll even throw in shipping.

One of the best features is that it has a slot for additional memory for those really big geocaching weekends.

I've gone with an iPAQ pocket PC myself--I've read enough horror stories about pocket queries, so I don't use them--I'll just download the printable version of cache pages to my pocket PC before I head out caching, rather than print out a hard copy._________________There comes a time in every young boy's life when he gets an irresistible urge to seek buried treasure.--Mark Twain

I've gone with an iPAQ pocket PC myself--I've read enough horror stories about pocket queries, so I don't use them--I'll just download the printable version of cache pages to my pocket PC before I head out caching, rather than print out a hard copy.

I have no problems with pocket queries. As long as you delete any existing ones that you have and then recreate them as new each time you should receive them within minutes.

When you edit an existing query GC seems to feel that you aren't priority and you aren't flagged to be run any time soon. If you create a completely new one they put you right to the top of the list.

I use my IPAQ with GPXView to view the cache data and it works pretty well. It keeps my car from being littered with printed cache pages

Cars full of printed cache description pages? Not for this frugal guy. I can't afford all that expensive printer ink ($25 a cartridge!) so I just write down the coordinates on a piece of paper and enter them into my gps by hand. Sound slow and ancient? You're right.

Cars full of printed cache description pages? Not for this frugal guy. I can't afford all that expensive printer ink ($25 a cartridge!)

I have a Handspring pro, but I never use it for caching anymore... I tried it several times, but I still prefer the paper for geocaching.

Frugality an issue??
What I do..... I set my printer to print only page 1 of the cache, I always use the page version that has the map in the upper right corner (any hints or notes that are cut off and I might need are written by hand in the margins).
I set my printer to greyscale and it prints everything in black and white. Plus I print on both sides of each paper.

I take the page with me to the cache and write myself a note about what I took and what I left, condition of cache, updated coords, etc. It makes it much easier when I get home to log. Everything is kept neatly organized in a folder and not strewn all over the car.

As far as ink cartridges go.... I use a re-fill kit. Cost me $19 and fills my HP cartridge "up to 8 times" (I have used it three times so far - mine still works well, but don't really expect it to last as long as they advertise)
I know Target has recycled cartridges for less, I have bought and re-filled those a few times. My kids go through printer ink for their school papers like you wouldn't believe -- it would have to be a REAL emergency for me to pay $25 for an ink cartridge.

Anyway.... I like having the page in my hand to refer to, I like having something to write on and take notes on.
Just my 17 cents.....

I have a Palm Tungsteen T now and it comes with a voice recorder. I use it to record all my notes of what I left and what I took and anything else I may want to note. It is much easier for me now. I found a small camera I can mount in the card port. That will be great for taking quick digital photos and not having to worry about dragging along an expensive camera.

Just my opinion, but I love geocaching much more now that I have a Palm Pilot.

Frugality an issue??
What I do..... I set my printer to print only page 1 of the cache, I always use the page version that has the map in the upper right corner (any hints or notes that are cut off and I might need are written by hand in the margins).
I set my printer to greyscale and it prints everything in black and white. Plus I print on both sides of each paper.

I do the same, but with legal paper - you can fit a LOT more on the longer page. I can almost always get everything important (no logs of course) on one side leaving the other for a close up map.

I'd like to try it with a palm sometime but I'm sure I'd find so many ways to hurt it.

I use a Palm m130. What is working for me currently is to use GPXSpinner to convert the pocket queries to html documents and then use Plucker to store and view the pages on the PDA. There are some drawbacks, but this is what is working for me. I can keep the PDA and GPSr in the truck and when the spirit moves me, I'm ready._________________When Re-Inventing the Wheel ... Think Rounder

i'm thinking this is why I have so many can't finds......i just download the cords to my gps......I don't have any idea if its a micro, reg, any clues, sometimes just a vitural, or terrain, or hardness levels.....but heck ....more of a challenge....
no paper.....ever!!!!

.....but heck ....more of a challenge....
no paper.....ever!!!!
I did for the first week......like every other newbie would.

Ahem....... what?????

Truth be told... I think more folks use paper pages and notes than not
Even us old-timers print out pages, and yet still seem to be able to find a few caches, even with our prehistoric, non battery powered, "low tech" ways........

Kitch, in your defense I will say how I first started geocaching, the first couple days anyway.

I would type in the zipcode of where I wanted to look and then when a cache description page popped up, I would just scroll down far enough to get the coords and the difficulty level (I was trying to make it difficult), completely ignoring if it was a micro, regular, jumbo, or VIRTUAL! I was oblivious to all that stuff. I thought all caches were ammo cans. After getting stumped (if you can call it that) I went online and saw my error. Talk about not doing your homework. Needless to say, my cache finding to not-finding ratio went sky high after that.